Empirical Foundations of the Common Good

What Theology Can Learn from Social Science

Edited by Daniel K. Finn

Argues that theology is overly irenic and should appreciate how contention and not only cooperation can contribute to the common good

Alters the definition of the common good based on the insights of social science

Empirical Foundations of the Common Good

What Theology Can Learn from Social Science

Edited by Daniel K. Finn

Description

The idea of the common good was borrowed by the Fathers of the early Catholic Church from the rich philosophical traditions of ancient Greece and Rome. It has been a fundamental part of Catholic thinking about social, political, and economic life throughout the Catholic intellectual tradition, from Augustine and Aquinas to modern Catholic social thought in the encyclicals of popes in recent centuries. Yet this history has been rooted in the traditions of philosophy and theology. With the rise of the social sciences in the nineteenth century as distinct disciplines no longer limited to the methods of their philosophical origins, humanity has learned a great deal more about the human condition. Empirical Foundations of the Common Good asks two questions: what have the social sciences learned about the common good? how might theology alter its understanding of the common good in light of that insight?In this volume, six social scientists, with backgrounds in economics, political science, sociology, and policy analysis, speak about what their disciplines have to contribute to discussions within Catholic social thought about the common good. Two theologians then respond by examining the insights of social science and exploring how Catholic social thought can integrate social scientific insights into its understanding of the common good. This volume's interplay of social scientific and religious views is a unique contribution to contemporary discussion of what constitutes "the common good."

Empirical Foundations of the Common Good

What Theology Can Learn from Social Science

Edited by Daniel K. Finn

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Contributions of Contemporary Political Science to an Understanding of the Common Good Matthew Carnes, S.J.

Chapter 2 What Can Economists Contribute to the Common Good Tradition?Andrew M. Yuengert

Chapter 3 Public Policy and the Common GoodMary Jo Bane

Chapter 4 The Contribution of Sociology to Catholic Social Thought andThe Common Good Douglas V. Porpora

Chapter 5 Contributions of Economic Theory to an Understanding of the Common Good in Catholic Social ThoughtCharles K. Wilber

Chapter 6 Public Service, Public Goods, and the Common Good Argentina as a Case StudyGerardo Sanchis Muñoz

Chapter 7 What Can Social Science Teach Catholic Social Thought About the Common Good?David Cloutier

Chapter 8 What Theology Should and Should Not Learn from the Social Sciences about the Common GoodMary L. Hirschfeld

Empirical Foundations of the Common Good

What Theology Can Learn from Social Science

Edited by Daniel K. Finn

Author Information

Daniel K. Finn is Professor of Theology and Clemens Professor of Economics at St. John's University, Collegeville, Minnesota. He is a former president of the Society of Christian Ethics, the Catholic Theological Society of America, and the Association for Social Economics. His books include Christian Economic Ethics: History and Implications.

Contributors:

Mary Jo Bane is Thornton Bradshaw Professor of Public Policy and Management, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. She has served as Assistant Secretary for Children and Families at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and as Commissioner of the New York State Department of Social Services. Her publications include Lifting Up the Poor: A Dialogue on Religion, Poverty, & Welfare Reform (co-author), "Welfare Realities" (co-author, Journal of Economic Literature), and "The Catholic Puzzle: Parishes and Civic Life" in Taking Faith Seriously. B.S.F.S., Georgetown University School of Foreign Service; M.A. and D.Ed., Harvard University.

Fr. Matthew Carnes, S.J., is Associate Professor in the Department of Government and the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, where he currently serves as the Director of Georgetown's Center for Latin American Studies. His research examines the political dynamics of labor and social welfare policy in developing and middle-income countries. He is the author of Continuity Despite Change: The Politics of Labor Regulation in Latin America as well as numerous articles on the evolution of social policy programs in Latin America and around the globe. B.A. and Ph.D., Stanford University, M.Div., the Jesuit School of Theology at Santa Clara University, M.A., Fordham University.

David Cloutier is Associate Professor of theology at the Catholic University of America, Washington, DC. He is the author of The Vice of Luxury and Walking God's Earth: The Environment and Christian Ethics ). He is a co-editor of the Moral Traditions series at Georgetown University Press, co-director of the Catholic Conversation Project, and serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Moral Theology. B.A, Carleton College, Ph.D.., Duke University.

John J. DiIulio, Jr., a Roman Catholic in the Jesuit tradition, is the Frederic Fox Leadership Professor of Politics, Religion, and Civil Society at the University of Pennsylvania, and a Non-Resident Senior Fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution. His books include Bring Back the Bureaucrats, Godly Republic, and American Government: Institutions and Policies. In 2001-2002, he served as first director of the White House Office dedicated to faith-based initiatives, and in 2009-2010 he assisted the Obama administration in reconstituting that office. B.A. and M.A., University of Pennsylvania; M.A. and Ph.D., Harvard University.

Daniel K. Finn is Professor of Theology and Clemens Professor of Economics at St. John's University, Collegeville, Minnesota. He is a former president of the Catholic Theological Society of America, the Association for Social Economics, and the Society of Christian Ethics. He is the director of the True Wealth of Nations research project at the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies. His books include Christian Economic Ethics: History and Implications and The Moral Ecology of Markets: A Framework for Assessing Justice in Economic Life. B.S., St. John Fisher College; M.A., Ph.D., University of Chicago.

Mary L. Hirschfeld is an Assistant Professor of theology and economics in the Department of Humanities at Villanova University. She is working on her book Toward a Humane Economy: Aquinas and the Modern Economy, which focuses on the dialogue between economics and theology, using Thomas Aquinas in order to construct a theological economics that challenges neoclassical economics, while remaining sympathetic to many of its best insights. Her work has been published in the Journal for the Society of Christian Ethics, History of Political Economy, Faith and Economics, the Journal of Economic Education and the Review of Economics and Statistics. Ph.D. in Economics, Harvard University, 1989, Ph.D. in Theology, University of Notre Dame, 2013.

Douglas V. Porpora is a Professor of Sociology at Drexel University in the Department of Culture and Communication. He has written widely on social theory. Among his strong interests is the role of moral emotions and moral reasoning in public discussion and behavior. Among his books are Reconstructing Sociology: The Critical Realist Approach and Landscapes of the Soul: The Loss of Moral Meaning in American Life. B.S., Bucknell University, Ph.D., Temple University.

Gerardo Sanchis Muñoz is Professor of Economics and Director of the Center for Public Management at the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina in Buenos Aires and is Visiting Professor at Pepperdine University. His focus is on issues of governance, public management, and the cultural and institutional issues related to economic development. He has trained public officials in regional and local jurisdictions throughout Latin America as well as in Ukraine, Japan, New Zealand, Morocco, and France. He has worked with the World Bank, USAID, UNESCO, UNDP, JICA, and NZAID. He graduated from the École Nationale d'Administration, Strasbourg, France, is DPhil - PRS at the University of Oxford, and holds the Masters in Public Administration from Harvard University.

Charles K. Wilber is Emeritus Professor of Economics and Fellow of the Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame. Recent publications include New Directions in Development Ethics, Catholics Spending and Acting Justly, and Economics and Ethics: An Introduction. B.A., M.S., University of Portland, Ph.D., University of Maryland.

Andrew M.Yuengert is Blanche Seaver Professor of Social Science and Professor of Economics at Pepperdine University. His research addresses questions on the boundaries of economics, ethics, and Catholic social teaching. He has served as editor of the journal Faith & Economics, and has authored three books: The Boundaries of Technique: Ordering Positive and Normative Concerns in Economic Research and Inhabiting the Land: The Case for the Right to Migrate and Approximating Prudence: Aristotelian Practical Wisdomand Economic Models of Choice. B.A., University of Virginia, Ph.D., Yale University.

Empirical Foundations of the Common Good

What Theology Can Learn from Social Science

Edited by Daniel K. Finn

Reviews and Awards

"Finn and the contributors to this excellent volume have produced a series of self-contained yet related essays that are precise, clear and richly informative without being pedantic or abstract. Throughout, the essays recognize that the common good is a both a prescriptive and abstract principle, without a method for achieving its goal, and also recognize that the social sciences are more concerned with moral dimensions of equity, fulfillment and order than is often acknowledged. Working in conversation, the limitations of both approaches might be strengthened and the common good advanced." --William Buhrman, International Journal of Public Theology

"This volume is suitable for graduate students or scholars interested in the common good and in CST. The contributors present important terms and movements from within their disciplines in an accessible way. Some of the insights by the social scientists are helpful even to experienced theologians who often engage in interdisciplinary collaboration."--Mary Beth Yount, Reading Religion

"This book is not just a collection of essays. It is a creative, integrated, and very successful attempt to advance the meaning of the common good through an interdisciplinary dialogue of theology and philosophy with the social sciences. This is a major contribution to a better understanding of the core issue of social ethics."--Charles Curran, Elizabeth Scurlock University Professor of Human Values, Southern Methodist University

"This ground-breaking volume is a uniquely helpful resource for theologians, economists, political scientists--indeed anyone eager to understand and promote the common good today. Each essay successfully blends the positive and normative, the empirical and the ethical, to shed light on the full meaning of the common good and the crucial role it can play in our public life. A satisfying exercise of interdisciplinary cross-fertilization, this volume greatly advances the noble enterprise of serious dialogue between theology and the social sciences."--Thomas Massaro, S.J., Professor of Moral Theology, Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University

"The fascinating variety of ways in which the authors in this volume explore the relationship between the Catholic conception of the common good and the contributions of the social sciences make the book an invaluable resource for all Christian thinkers for whom the empirical sciences are not merely tools but can inform and enrich normative ethical ideas. The book is a significant contribution to Christian ethics."-Jon P. Gunnemann, Professor of Social Ethics, Emeritus, Emory University